


The Trials of Petra Ral

by How2LeaveYourself



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: 1st person, Complete, F/M, Marco!Titan, Petra lives!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-12
Updated: 2015-05-12
Packaged: 2018-03-30 07:17:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3927829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/How2LeaveYourself/pseuds/How2LeaveYourself
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My name is Petra Ral, and about a year and a half ago, I thought I was dead.<br/>Why, you may ask? <br/>Let's just say that sometimes, doctors make mistakes, there isn't a lot of time to do squat, and I may or may not still be pissed at several people. </p><p>It's all good though. I'm alive and I wrote this all down.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Introduction

Introduction

My name is Petra Ral, and about a year and a half ago, I thought I was dead.   
Why, you may ask? Well, let's just say being squashed into a giant tree by a giant foot doesn't feel good. Neither does being thrown off of a wagon because the people driving it think you were dead in the first place. I was probably lucky no Titans ate me. They really must be as stupid as regular people. I was only unciounsious mind you, and when I got back, I was plenty mad at Levi (since he was the one who ordered all the dead bodies to be thrown off the wagon, since yet another Titan was chasing them and catching up), but it was fine.   
He apologised. Sort of.   
Well, he proposed, and I said yes, and I take that as enough of an apology.   
I'm fine now though. Oluo is too, which I'm happy about. We both got back pretty beat up. I mean, my legs were broken, he himself could hardly walk, we were malnourished, bla-bla-bla. And I'm getting pretty sick and tired of people asking me what happened, so I decided to write it all down.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1  
It was May Seventh in the year Eight-Hundred-Fifty-Six, the forty-seventh expedition of the Recon Corps outside the wall, the fifteenth outside wall Maria since Rose had been captured by Titans. All of us were on horseback or high-speed wagon, and ready to get out. The new cadets were exhilerated and ready to spur their horses into action, even though they were obvisouly nervous.  
I was pretty nervous too, this was only my sixth time outside the wall (which was a pretty good average by far, since most people died on thier first expedition) and I didn't know if I would do as well as others. I had made plenty of kills and kill assists, but never as much as Corporal Levi or Commander Erwin. They had it down.   
Of course, it should be easy to kill a Titan. All you have to do is use your 3-D manuevering gear to propel yourself up to the neck with one strike.   
It's what everyone who joins the cadet corps trains for, even if you never use it. You usually don't, most often when your part of the Garrison Regiment and Military Police, since all they do is sit around, get rich or mope.   
The problem is, is that Titans are unpredictable. They might try to tear apart or grab the wires of the 3-D gear, jump up and take a bite out of you or grab you out of the air. Some even pounce or run, which is uncommon, but can happen. They're also extremely strong, stupid, can heal anything but thier necks almost immeadately, and are virtually surrounded by an aura of heat, which is hard to get through unless you've had the experience.   
It took a while before the bells began to ring and the gates were slowly, ever so slowly opened. I could feel myself begin to doubt. Had I done the right thing joining the Recon Corps? Would I survive?   
I had to shake myself out of my thoughts. I could survive this. I'd survived the last five times, a sixth shouldn't be hard.   
I had spurred my horse into action, taking off with the rest of the group. For a while, the only thing we could hear was the dull thudding of horses hooves on dirt and the creaking of wagon wheels as they were pulled onward. Dust was kicking up, and yet the day was unbelievably clear, white fluffy clouds spotting the sky occasionaly. The trees were swaying in the breeze gently, the leaves making thier own sort of calming music.   
It was actually very pleasant, the first hour or so being something I really did enjoy, even though I knew my legs would be sore from the horse's persistant gait across the plain-like enviornment. I remembered how many times before I wished I could be right here, as a child. The Wings of Freedom fluttering on my back as if they were real, the wind in my hair, the fresh, untouched air. I had only been outside wall Rose once, and it was enough to make me stay. It was a shame though, when the Colossal Titan destroyed the wall and humanity needed to hide behind walls Maria and Sina.   
Leaving the walls never felt as exhilerating as before, since there were still walls around us. I still wouldn't be able to assist in searching for the thing called the ocean. I heard it was a huge body of water, with small plots of landed dotted about it, and that it covered at least two thirds of the entire world. It was pretty hard for me to picture, the only thing we know about space is using constellations to travel, lunar cycles, and the few planets that could be spotted at dawn and evening.   
I hadn't ever taken the time to look for any of those planets, but I often thought about what it was like to be on them. Probably pretty quiet and peaceful, since there wouldn't be anyone else there.   
It was, much to my surprise, very quiet until we got to the first small town. It was almost a village due to it's size, but still large enough to occupy a sizable population to feed Titans. That's probably the scariest thing about Titans in the first place. You can go fifty years and still see the same Titan, even if it hasn't eaten at all in that period. They don't bug animals either. It's almost as if their sole existence is to destroy humans by devouring them, crushing them, or both. And if people survived by being swallowed whole, they'd just suffocate inside it's stomach, since they had no digestive system. I'm happy about that though, since that also means they have no reproductive system either, and that would just be disturbing.   
Eren had told me what it was like inside before, since he'd survived it by becoming his Titan. It had been dark, rancid and disgusting, the stomach acids at least up to his chest, dead bodies simply floating about inside like nobody's businuess.   
I didn't want to be eaten by a Titan. I knew it would be just horrible.   
We saw the first Titans, two ten meter class and three four-to-eight meter class, when we entered the village. It was strange to suddenly hear the horses change to stone when we'd been on the dirt for so long, but it also held some comfort. I knew if it came to the worst than I could hide in a building and wait it out with any other survivors. It wasn't normal for Titans to destroy houses, but they could dig through rubble to find humans.   
A group of eight drew their horses to a stop and went to quickly assault the Titans. They were experienced, and managed to take them down quickly, but only six came back.   
It always hurt when a scouting squad or assault team came back with fewer members than before, counting as only more people that had fallen to the Titans. I hated it, since I had to watch Erwin, who rode ahead, let out a depressed sigh and bring out his notebook to write down the names of the deceased.   
I kept a count.   
Humans: Six, Titans: Two.   
I didn't even want to add the ten-thousand plus that were already on the list. I always started a new score whenever we left, as if it was some sort of game. If we came back with more on our score, in a way, we won. But it always felt as if there were more Titans than before, simply waiting.   
By far, the worst expedition was the thirty-fourth, three years before then, when I was just a cadet. Out of the two-hundred-and-fifty men and women that had left, only fifty-seven came back, and most were already injured or dying.   
I remember it took us an hour to clear the village, backtracking through pre-mapped alleys and taking confusing shortcuts to try and keep as many people and avoid Titans as much as possible.   
After that we came across a few small villages, and at the second we broke up into our squads.   
There were twelve squads in the group that expedition, not including the three we kept near the middle. Six fanned out and dissappeared into the woods and hills on each side, scouting for titans. Whenever a Titan (or a group of Titans) was spotted a red flare was shot up. If an abnormal was found, they shot a black flare. If, after fifteen minutes, there were no Titans spotted, a green flare was shot up, and the majority of the group headed in the direction. If there was shelter found, a blue flare was shot up and everyone had to immeadiately report there. If a there was a heavy casualty rate, they shot up a yellow flare and no one headed in the direction, because that meant for sure there were Titans.  
Before new technologies, we hadn't the slightest clue how much danger we were in when the female Titan came.   
Of course, as I said earlier, humans are stupid.  
We just thought it was an abnormal.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2  
Nowadays they have the orange flare for Titan Shifters (like Eren) or intilligent Titans, and a purple flare if they're hostile, but before we didn't know how common they really were. It probably is a good thing that Hanji conducted the communication experiment on Eren, since now a majority of the Recon Corps nows how to communicate with intilligent Titans.  
Back then, when they found the female Titan, they shot up a red and a black. No one knew it was a Titan shifter until they had actually caught it in the woods, and even then almost everyone thought it was just an abnormal.   
I do also remember that time period. Every so often a red and black flare would shoot up, and it was getting progressively worrying, since the flares were always closer. Apparently, some groups had split up, and cadets Armin Arlert and Jean Kirstien had a close encounter with it. I heard that it had kicked Arlert's horse, and the two went flying, and when Arlert finally recovered it had him cornered. Kirstien and another cadet, Reinner; who we now know as a hostile Titan shifter, managed to rescue him, Reinner heavily wounding the creature in the process, even though it's wounds were easily healed.   
I remember Commander Erwin told us to take cover in the trees, a large pine-forest. We already had one of Hanji's Titan traps preset there, and I had a feeling we were going to use it, while cadets and other squads kept any stray Titans out of the forest.   
We continued to ride through, since Eren was a large threat to the entire operation if he didn't activiate his Titan abilities at the right time, and our squad's job had been to protect him.  
That, I now know, hadn't worked very well.   
In the back of my head I remember shouting at Levi. He was just riding along, and apparently hadn't had a plan, (which he did) or had failed to inform us of it. He had told us to continue riding ahead, and our safety grew slim when he told Eren to either trust the Recon Corps or activate his Titan then. I swear I could've felt my heart beating fast enough to pop right out of my chest, and my throat constricting like I was going to vomit.   
After a few minutes Levi took off and left us. He literally fired his 3D Manuevering Gear and took off after telling us to keep going. I remember we took to the air soon after, an earsplitting cry erupting through the air like an explosion. It sounded almost human, but still like a creature of some sort. We had all resorted to 3D Maneuvering gear when we heard it, the ground beginning to rumble beneath the horses' hooves like an earthquake as Titans thundered into the forest.   
Not long after that, someone killed Gunther.   
However it was came in as if they knew exactly what they were doing, their swords flashing almost like lightning. Before we knew it, Gunther was hanging from his 3D gear like clothing on a wire, his arms limp, his body swaying emptily in the wind.  
I swear I heard Eren begin to cry when he swooped in close enough to confirm his death, crying out for him as if he were a motherless child.   
It took only a few moments for a large flash to appear behind us. It seemed almost as if lightning had struck the ground. The world around us turned yellow, green and orange for a moment before it was once again normal.   
I glanced over my shoulder to see the female Titan closing in quickly. We began to head to a clearing as Erd rushed over to take a swing at it.   
For a moment, I was paralyzed. It lunged up and bit him in half. It literally bit him in half.  
I could see his lower half go spiraling into oblivion as our group grew ever smaller, Eren still continuing ahead, obviously having an intense mental battle on whether or not he should shift to take the criminal shifter on or continue as Levi had commanded.   
The moment was, and still is, very vivid to me.   
I was swinging low to turn back and take a swing at the monster when I felt a sudden pull in my gut telling me to move; yet as I turned around to see what it was, I was frozen. The world around me seemed to careen into some gruesome form of slow motion, as I continued to zip across the ground, staring at the monster that stood before me. I could see every hideous detail in the female Titan's face, the skin ripped away at the jaw slightly, the large sagging areas beneath her blank, icy blue eyes, straw-like hair swinging in her face. I swear, for a moment, she smiled.   
It wasn't a good smile though, it was the bad kind. The kind that sends shivers up your back, the kind of smile you give someone you despise, the kind of smile you put on when you say you'll deal with a disgusting problem.   
All I could do was begin to scream.   
I heard Eren screaming as well, terrified, high above, as Oulo's voice broke the stiffened silence.   
"PETRA LOOK OUT!"   
And within moments she raised her foot and sqwashed me into the trunk of one of the four-hundred year old trees that stood in that forest.   
It by far would have had to have been the most gruesome thing they'd witnessed.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3  
I could hear a ringing in my ears as pain exploded in my chest. I wasn't quite aware of my surroundings at the time, though I was positive I was dead. I felt as if my chest had been ripped to peices, which had actually been the case, when I finally had the chance to check. It felt as if the world around me were spinning wildly, in a dark, empty haze. I could see the chalky colors of the forest around me, and I wasn't sure were is was. My thoughts had scattered into the depths of my shaken mind, and as I regained some of me feeling, I realized I was looking at a tree high above.   
I could hardly make out what was one branch and what was another, it was almost as if someone had taken my vision and blurred it like a painting. Things were jumping out of place, the world spinning and clicking back into place rapidly. I could feel my head throbbing, and my chin pressed against the trunk of the tree. As I continued to gain feeling I could also feel the bark grating against my bleeding chest. It hurt quite badly, but I couldn't move.   
In a silent panic I realized I couldn't feel my back, my neck, my jaw, or even my legs.   
I began to hyperventilate slightly, not realizing how absoloutely hard it really was to breathe. I could feel my chest heaving, stinging every time it moved. I tried to look around, but I couldn't. I couldn't feel anything of my back area or lower half.   
It was absoloutely terrifying.   
I wasn't sure how long I was there, staring at the boughs of that tree and unable to move, for some reason still alive.   
I was confused, at the moment I hadn't the slightest idea how I'd gotten there in the first place, and I knew that if I couldn't get moving soon, I would surely die of blood loss, exposure, or a Titan would find me.   
After a long time, I finally saw movement high above.   
What or whoever it was had melded in with the trees slightly, the cloak was just the right color to blend in. The figure had seemed to take a moment to swing low nearby, and I stared. I didn't blink. I simply... stared.  
When I got back I had discovered that it was Levi who had seen me first, swinging slow and low. He told me that he'd been devastated, even if in the moment, he hadn't a choice but to hide his emotions. He, as someone everyone looked up to, needed to remain resolute and on task.   
Once again I was alone and unnaware of the world around me.   
And I slowly began to fade into unconsiousness


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4  
I was suddenly awoken when I felt someone's arms wrap around me.   
For a moment I was confused.   
It felt as if mere moments ago I was on the brink of death, and yet here I could only see blank, sterile cloth wrapped over my face.   
As the arms tightened around me more, I began to panic. I felt the ground jolt beneath me, suddenly aware of a ringing in my ears and the clouded sounds of horses, wagon wheels, panicked voices and the loud stomping of large feet on the dirt and grass covered ground.   
I could hardly make out voices screaming at each other right above me, high pitched, raspy, sad.   
"Dump the bodies!"   
I knew in an instant it was Levi. I don't know how I knew, but something about his voice seemed broken. I'd heard it that way before, long ago, when it had just been us and he was explaining a few things to me.   
I heard an unfmaliar voice shout back above me, the arms sqweezing tighter about my chest.   
"Have you no emotion!? Have you no soul!?"   
"Do it or you'll be in the same state they're in!" Levi responded. I could hear his voice crack slightly.   
With an apparent regret, the arms wrapped yet tighter around me, picking me up. I once again began to panic, but I couldn't move. I couldn't scream for them to stop as I felt myself grow close to the edge.   
I felt myself be thrown into the air, the comforting feeling of human contact dissapearing suddenly.   
I got the familiar feeling of being in the air with nothing to support me. My stomach dropped to my knees as I began to fall. I felt the fabric covering my face float away , the sun blinding me. My hair blew into my face, and I couldn't see behind me, but I knew he was watching.  
I knew.  
I hit the ground, and I couldn't help but shout out. It seemed as if no one heard me.   
They didn't know. They didn't know I was alive.   
I could feel my emotions shatter as I rolled away on the ground, the dirt packing against my face. I could feel my jaw shake as I finally rolled to a stop, unnaware of the large being running past me.   
At that point, I didn't care anymore.   
I really didn't care.   
I could hear the Regiment leaving. Leaving me behind.   
For a while I simply lay there, wrapped in the open, makeshift bodybag. I could feel the ropes tied loosely around my waist and arms to hold it in place, but I didn't care.   
They had left me.  
They had left me.   
Had they not known I was alive? Had they abandoned any hope of saving me? Did the medical assistant make a mistake? Did they just not have time to make sure?  
That and a million other scenarios began to run through my head as I sat there, unnaware of my surroundings, the setting sun, the dirt caking my face and hair and the thin fabric wrapped emptily about me, the absency of my 3D Maneuvering Gear, the need to move; and get somewere safe.   
I stared at the dirt and pebbles directly in front of my face, my cheek pressed into the grass covered, dirty ground. I didn't move to brush my hair from my face, or check my obviously wounded legs and chest, even if I could now feel my back.   
The sky was almost dark when I finally moved consciously.   
I bit my lip, narrowed my eyes, and began to cry.   
First it was really quiet, because I knew I couldn't attract the attention of Titans. I was heartbroken, seemingly alone, with no one around to comfort me. I raised my arm to push myself up, before screaming as it buckled beneath me.   
And then I began to wail. I began to scream and sob loudly, attempting to push myself up twice more before I succeeded, leaning back on my knees. I once again screamed and my eyes were filled with fresh tears as I felt my legs began to sear painfully beneath my own wheight. I forced myself, still sobbing, to pull them from underneath me, letting them bend to the side in a way that put on as little pressure as possible.   
I was still wailing, the salty tears dripping into my open mouth as I sobbed. The only other movement I made was to reach over and strip the large makeshift bodybag of its ropes, tossing them aside weakly, my chest heaving, I drew it close around me like the absent evergreen cloak every soldier had.   
Mine was gone.  
The Wings of Freedom I had so long taken time to fight for, to train for, to look up to, had been stripped away from me. I felt empty inside, abandoned as my chest heaved. It seemed as if I continued crying until the sun set, and long after, sitting there, alone, wounded, and empty.   
I screamed and cried until my voice was hoarse and I began to cough loudly, suddenly feeling the urge to vomit. I hacked, but nothing came out.   
The only thing that snapped me back to reality was a familiar voice.   
"Petra?"  
Still sniffling slightly, I looked up to see the ragged form of Olou limping towards me. He dragged his feet beneath him, his arms swayed emptily at his sides, his face and clothes were dirty, a stream of dried blood plastering his forehead and dribbling from his mouth and down his chin were it stained his white shirt.   
"Petra?" He said again, his voice dry and hoarse.   
I closed my mouth and pursed my lips, gripping the edges of my rag of a blanket, causing the thin object to tighten as I balled it in my fists.   
"O-Olou..." I answered. I snapped my mouth shut again, surprised at how high pitched and childish it shounded.   
"Oh, dear god, what's happened? Were is everyone?"  
I opened my mouth to speak once again, only to have my voice crack.   
"T-They... They left u-u-us." My voice shook, and I raised a hand to wipe away at the tears that threatened to spill over my cheeks once again. "They th-th-thought we were dead..."  
I distinctly remember his face twisting in disbelief, before he looked around at the other, unnmoving human shapes still wrapped in fabric, scattered down the road in a haphazard line.  
He collapsed on his knees at that point, before drawing close to me. He stretched out his arms and embraced me, and I continued to sniff weakly.   
Before now, I had never imagined that things would be so bad. I thought I would wake up in a wagon or in the medical bay, or possibly even in front of the pearly gates themselves, but this had to have been the last thing on my mind. I never thought people made such drastic mistakes.   
Why had they left us? We were both alive, both operational, and I had no doubt that with a full tank of gas I could go a very long way with 3D Maneuvering Gear.   
But no.   
It was just the two of us.   
Alone, outside Wall Maria, and most likely going to die within the next twenty-four hours.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 4  
We both sat until the moon was peeking over a nearby hill. I remember it was abnormaly large that night, and full, lighting up the sky as if it were its own version of the sun. The stars were also impossibly bright, and it was almost as if it were mid-day.   
Olou stood, and extended his hand. I looked up slowly, and took it, suddenly realizing how tired I was.   
He pulled me to my feet, but within seconds my legs had crumpled beneath me, and I was once again on the ground.  
"I don't think- I don't think I can walk." I said softly. "I can't feel my legs very well."  
He didn't get mad though. The best part about Olou is that even if he tries to be like Levi, he really does express a lot of love and emotion within small groups of people. He smiled softly and knelt down to wrap me in his arms.   
"That's alright. I can carry you to were-ever we go, easy."   
I nodded, wrapping my hands around his neck. He took a slow, shaky step forward, wobbling slightly, but he continued on.   
He trudged through the dark, and I sat in his grip, looking ahead. I would peer about occasionaly, keeping a wary eye out for Titans. Much to my surprise, there were none nearby, and I quickly spotted the remains of an old, rotted barn.   
It took us a long time to actually get there, but I was fine with it. We entered through a large hole, retreating into one of the cow stalls farther back. They were bound to be running wild nearby, outside we had seen fresh manure. I had taken my thin rag blanket with me, and when Olou set me down I bunched it up slightly, pressing my head into my temporary pillow and draping the rest across me. I curled up in the corner as Olou searched the large barn for useful tools.   
I remember laying there, staring at the hallway outside, a blue and white light shining across it from the moon. I could hear Olou slowly make his way up a surviving ladder, returning quickly.   
He set a few things down before taking a sack, ripping it on two sides, and then laying down on the other end of the stall, his back facing me.   
I lay there for a while, staring absentmindedly. I could feel my eyes glaze over as I watched, my hair still in my face slightly.   
I didn't really mind though, because I knew there was someone else with me, who was alive and well enough to keep the two of us going strong.   
And, after a little while, I finally drifted to sleep.   
That night I woke up several times, each time due to some noise that had stirred me from my sleep. I was still frightened and aware that there could be Titans wondering about outside, simply searching for us.   
I really hoped they weren't.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 5  
When I awoke the next morning, the sun was a buttery yellow and still low to the ground. I was facing the wooden and rotting wall, and quickly withdrew from it.  
I had clenched my rag-blanket to my chest, looking around wildly.   
For a split second, I was confused as to were I was. My back was sore to the point I could hardly sit up, my legs were numb, and my side ached from sleeping on it wrong. Small chunks of straw littered the ground beneath me, the floor made of cracked cobblestone bricks. It smelt old and musty, and somewhat damp, a scent I have since despised.   
Then, in an instant, it all came flooding back. I was presumed KIA, and left alone with only one other true survivor, Olou.   
I looked around again to discover he wasn't on his side of the stall. I began to hyperventilate for a moment. Had he gone out and been eaten by a Titan? Had he died of blood loss or dehydration? Had he fallen and couldn't get up? Had he been attacked by feral animals?   
However, my worries dissapeared when I heard him call for me.  
"Petra? Are you awake?"   
After a long pause I muttered a loud 'yes', leaning over to drag myself out of the stall. The pain of having inoperable legs was quite aggravating, since I couldn't walk, simply resorting to dragging myself along the floor.   
I finally emerged from the stall, looking about from my awkward, low to the ground position, my legs spread awkwardly behind me, my arms locked to hold my torso in place.   
I spotted Olou sitting nearby the hole we had entered. Outisde the day was nice, but it was clear that storm clouds were quickly approaching. The leaves sang in the breeze listlessly, the long, overgrown grass swaying as if in dance.   
Olou had a small pile of large, ripe apples piled beside him. An old bowl was filled with water, which was still and clear.   
He turned around, apparently hearing.  
"You could have called for me." He scolded, but I rolled my eyes as he picked me up and sat me on a crate nearby.   
He quickly snatched up two apples and the bowl before shoving them in my hands.   
"Eat. You need it." He ordered, and I was happy to oblige.  
I hadn't realized quite how hungry I was until I saw the apples, feeling the pit of my stomach drop emptily, my head spinning slightly and my mouth watering. I quickly scarfed down both apples, downing the water in a single run.   
"Where did you get this?" I asked, placing the apple cores and bowl aside.   
Olou had watched the whole time, making sure I got the most out of it. Apparently he had overlooked my lack of manners, as if knowing how hungry and parched I was.   
"There's an old apple orchard a few minutes away. And there's also a stream too. I can go leave to get some water so you can wash your face."  
I beamed, folding my hands in my lap and grinning happily at the man.  
"That'd be great actually. I feel filthy."  
He nodded, taking the bowl. "You are very filthy." He blanched, smirking as he left. "Absoloutely covered with blood."  
I narrowed my eyes, feeling my face burn. "Hey!"   
Even though I could sense the sarcasm in his voice, I couldn't help but get angry.   
He had dissapeared out the hole before I could complete my retort, leaving me alone on the crate. After a moment I let out a sigh, noticing the small amounts of dust that curled up when I breathed.   
The barn itself was long, but still tall, enough to harbor several cows and horses. I could see into the hay lofts on either side, large holes in the rotting roof letting in grey light from the stormy clouds overhead. I could hear a few birds tweeting loudly, a random tune that didn't at all make sense to me. I could see old, stiff straw littering the ground, in thicker corners beginning to decompose.   
The beams and walls themselves seemed very stong and stable, only a few unnecessary boards broken and letting in a chilling breeze. It smelt dully of animals, and was also very musty. The air was thick with dirt and dust kicked up by every small movement I made, swiveling my head to look around, adjusting my position using my hands and lower back rather than my legs, or simply breathing.   
How I hadn't already suffocated escaped me, and I remember thinking something similar to that, before my thoughts snapped back to the day before.  
At the moment of realization I pressed my chin to my chest and looked at the damage.   
My chest was clearly wounded, and I swore could almost see one of my lungs underneith the gaping hole. Skin and flesh was shredded angrily; small rocks, pieces of bark and clumps of dirt embedded into several places. It had miraculously already scabbed over, but I knew there would be a large scar left behind.   
It took off my boots gently, hissing and cursing myself as I jostled my legs uncomfortably. When I finally peeled off the slightly red socks I realized what the problem was.   
It seemed almost as if my legs had been discomfigured, yet somehow blood was still pumping into my feet, which I couldn't feel. Much to my relief they weren't blue or purple; which would have indicated frostbite, simply bloated and swollen. I still couldn't feel my legs though. It seemed as if something inside each had shattered. I had hoped it wasn't bone.   
If that was the case, my legs would most likely heal improperly, leaving me crippled.   
That certainly wouldn't do.   
I quickly slipped my boots back on, leaving the socks to dry on the edge of a nearby stall.


End file.
